Thursday, October 6, 2011

Late night with Trooper Taylor

Auburn's assistants usually meet with the media following Wednesday night's practice. Here's what wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor had to say about his injury-depleted unit and Saturday's game at Arkansas.

Got enough receivers to take to Arkansas?

"I hope so. Obviously Emory didn't practice today. But he's usually a fast healer. He's kind of banged up the week before and he made it back, but it'll be up to game time and if he's ready we'll play him. If we can't, we'll go to the next one.

"He's pretty solid with all his assignments and things like that. If he was a freshman or something, it would be different. But Emory's obviously an experienced kid. That helps with rehab too, so that helps with how you have to attack it. He's in the training room three or four times a day."

How are the other receivers doing?

"Feel pretty good about it. There's still some things to get done on the perimeter with putting guys in the right position. Because we do so many checks, sometimes we get mismatches on the perimeter. But for the most part we've been able to substitute and get the right guys in there. I've been proud to see the guys come back, like to see Jay Wisner catch the ball the way that he's done. He came back after the drops that he had earlier. It took himself a long time to redeem himself but he understands now why it's important to catch the balls that get thrown to him. But I felt like they've done a pretty good job on the perimeter. Anytime you run the football like we have, those guys on the perimeter make a big difference. We have to continue to do that and also make plays when you get the opportunity to do so."

Do you think you guys need more big plays?

"We need to take advantage of what the defense gives us. When they get opportunities to make plays I think for the most part when it's been there, they've done that. A lot of that is going to be dictated by what the defense does. There's nothing I would say we need to go back and change so that these guys can do this or do that.

How is DeAngelo Benton coming along?

"He broke the whole team down. Everybody got excited when we called his name to break it down. He's just that kind of guy. He works hard. He doesn't complain. Even though he doesn't get a bunch of reps, he still works the same way. For coach Malzahn's confidence and Trotter's confidence, it probably went a long way. He's two for two. We just need to try to extend some of that. He's a hard working kid and I love him to death. I call him the old man, because he's about as old as I am. But he's out there making plays and every day he comes to work. He's selfless. He doesnt' care whether he gets one play or 50 plays."